There have been arrangements used in the past to protect the forward edge of a bucket's base edge. In some applications, a wear resistant member is welded to the leading edge between respective tip assemblies to increase the life thereof. In other arrangements, individual members have been bolted to the base edge between the respective tip assemblies.
In various other arrangements, the base edge protector has been secured between respective tip assemblies and fastened directly to the tip assemblies by various forms of fasteners and/or are held in position by a mechanical interlock once the tip is mounted on and secured to the adapter. In these arrangements, it is necessary to remove the tip before the base edge protector can be removed.
In most of the above-noted arrangements, the base edge of the bucket is formed from a heavy flat steel plate and the tip assemblies are either welded to the base edge plate or pinned thereto by various types of fasteners. Likewise, as noted above, in some of the arrangements, the edge protector is either welded to the bucket's base edge plate or pinned thereto. Consequently, it is advantageous to provide an arrangement in which the base edge protector is readily secured to the plate of the bucket base edge while allowing serviceability of the base edge protector without any interference with the respective tip assemblies located on either side of the base edge protector.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.